Книга только для ознакомления
.
Gwen got out her little gameboard, set it for tic-tac-toe, which suited me,
it being about the intellectual level I felt able to cope with then. She beat me
four straight games, even though twice I had the first move. But my head was
still aching from her supersonic scream.
I had not kept track of the exact time but it must have been about ten
minutes later that a man came in with our accounts. Sethos glanced at them,
passed them over to us. Mine appeared to be accurate; I was about to sign the
receipt when Gwen spoke up. "What about interest on the money I had to deposit?"
"Eh? What are you talking about?"
"My fare back dirtside. I had to deposit it in cash, no lOUs accepted. Your
bank here charges nine percent on private loans, so it ought to be paying at
least savings account rates on impounded money. Although time-deposit rates
would be more reasonable. I've been here more than a year, so... let me see-"
Gwen took out the pocket calculator we had been using for tic-tac-toe. "You owe
me eight hundred seventy-one and-call it even crowns-eight hundred and
seventy-one crowns in interest. In Swiss gold that comes to-"
"We pay in crowns, not Swiss money."
"All right, you owe it to me in crowns."
"And we don't pay interest on return ticket money; it is simply held in
escrow."
I was suddenly alert. "You don't, eh? Dear, may I borrow that widget? Let's
see-a hundred and eighty thousand people
|
